39.00 USD
Jean Théophile Geiser 1848-1923 moved with his family, while a very young child, from his native Switzerland to Algeria in the early 1850s. In the late 1860s he opened his own photography studio and over the next half century enjoyed great success, both in the winning of international awards for his work, and financially, through the sale of countless of his photographic images on picture postcards.
Though probably best known today for his "ethnic" nudes, the popularity of which in France, no doubt played a great role in the prevalence of the "costume orientale" in Belle Epoque art and theater, he also traveled extensively throughout the east, photographing and writing on a broad array of subjects.
Here, we see a particularly wonderful example of his studio portrait work, in this little jewel of a carte de visite, an infant is posed (we can hardly say "poses" in this case :) in a soldier's cuirass (joined chest and back plate armor).
The temptation to imagine the story behind this image is fierce! But, we're going to limit our imaginings to merely guessing that the cuirass belonged to a proud military father who hoped his little son would one day follow in his footsteps. The father may well have been one of the Chasseurs d'Afrique, a unit of "cuirassiers" that was mainly composed of North African colonials of France.
Sabre wielding, mounted cavalry, the Chasseurs d'Afrique had ridden into the "valley of death" immortalized by Tennyson in the fateful "Charge of the Light Brigade," and even as late as WWI, horse mounted cavalry charges of armored French cuirassiers still occurred (with often disastrous results) on modern 20th century battlefields.
This rare and wonderful carte de visite, by a highly respected 19th and early 20th century photographer, reflects the history of the period in so many ways. We were lucky to find it, and are very pleased to share it with you.
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of sudden increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more.
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redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!